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It shows that at Royal Devon and Exeter NHS Trust between April 1, 2016 and March 31, 2017, the odds of patients dying within 30 days of admission at the weekend were 24% higher than the odds of patients dying within 30 days of admission on a Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday.

The Royal Devon & Exeter Hospital has not meet its A&E target since October 2015

That the effect is due to chance is all but ruled out.

The chances of patients being readmitted to hospital as an emergency within 30 days of being discharged on a Sunday from Northern Devon Healthcare were 87% higher than the chances of patients discharged on a Wednesday being readmitted, a significant difference.

Other hospital trusts where the chances of readmission following a discharge on a Sunday was significantly higher than the chances of readmission within 30 days of a discharge on a Wednesday were Torbay and South Devon and Royal Devon and Exeter, where the odds were 57% higher than the odds for a Wednesday discharge.

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For those discharged on a Saturday from Northern Devon Healthcare, the chances of being readmitted to hospital as an emergency with 30 days was 71% higher compared to the chances of readmission for patients discharged on a Wednesday, a significant difference.

For patients discharged from Royal Devon and Exeter on a Saturday the chances of readmission were 39% higher than the chances of readmission for patients discharged on a Wednesday, while at Torbay and South Devon, it was 33% higher, both significant differences in odds.

Torbay Hospital

NHS Digital analysis suggests that patients in England who are admitted at the weekend still have an increased likelihood of dying within 30 days of admission compared to those who are admitted midweek.

It also suggests that patients who are discharged on Friday, Saturday and Sunday have an increased likelihood of an emergency readmission within seven days of discharge compared to those who are discharged on a Wednesday, and those patients who are admitted in an emergency stay slightly longer in hospital if they are admitted between Friday and Sunday.

The analysis says there are many possible explanations for this variation including differences in the case-mix of patients, patient behaviour and provision of services both in and outside of the hospital (including social care), but the analysis is unable to determine the causes of the observed variation.

North Devon District Hospital

One of the proposals under the Department of Health policy on seven-day NHS services is to provide the same level of hospital care at the weekend so people have the same experience regardless of day of the week.

For people admitted between April 1, 2016 and March 31, 2017, the likelihood of dying within 30 days of admission at the weekend were 14% higher than the likelihood of dying within 30 days of admission if you are admitted midweek. For emergency admissions at the weekend, the odds of dying within 30 days of admission was 12% higher than the odds of dying for those admitted mid-week.

The analysis says this does imply that the likelihood of dying within 30 days of an admission at the weekend is higher than for people admitted midweek, but it does not mean a patient is 14% more likely to die, just that their comparative risk is higher.

North Devon District Hospital

Of the 135 non-specialist acute trusts reported in the indicator, at 67 (50%) the odds of dying within 30 days of admission for people admitted at the weekend was significantly higher than the odds of dying for people admitted midweek.

An emergency readmission within a short period following discharge from hospital (defined here as seven days) could, in some cases, be considered indicative of the patient being discharged before they were fit or be due to a lack of availability of rehabilitation and support services when a patient was discharged home following hospital treatment.